Hyappa Leroy Stout by Hyappa Brews

May 23, 2017

Hyappa Leroy Stout is a 5.5% Stout from Hyappa Brews, based in Shizuoka, Japan. It’s part of their limited edition bottled range, and like many other Hyappa Brews, contains an additional adjunct, in this case honey, to ensure that it obeys the happoshu laws for beer in Japan. Besides that, not much else is known about Hyappa Leroy Stout as their website contains no information about the ingredients nor the story behind the name – though I am going to imagine someone was screaming out “LEEEEEEEEEEEE-ROOOOOOOOOOOY” when they were making this beer.

How this has been labelled as a brown ale is beyond me.

Hyappa Leroy Stout Aroma and Taste

Hyappa Leroy Stout poured out a pitch black colour though with hints of brown to it when the glass was tilted and held up to the light. The head was a frothy off-white colour with large bubbles that popped quickly and left head marks over the side of the glass. It had a strong roasted aroma of coffee with hints of wood in there as well, with the faintest of hints of sweetness going on too. There wasn’t any discernable hop nose to it either, with a meagre amount of spiciness to it – though I guess that could have been from the malts. I would have liked to have known how much honey went into making this beer as I couldn’t detect anything of it on the nose – probably a teaspoon to make sure the beer wasn’t 100%.

I would have also liked Hyappa Leroy Stout to have had some more oomph in the body after a decent nose – it ended up being quite thin for my liking, with it almost resembling a heavy schwarz / light stout. I know that some readers don’t like stick-to-your-ribs stouts, but I do and that’s how I compare stouts. The coffee woodiness continued through into the body though if you prefer your stouts to be low on the coffee and chocolate flavours, then Hyappa Leroy Stout is perfect for you as they were distinctly muted. It ended up with a smidgen of sweetness in the aftertaste before fading fast.